


Silk and Steel

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Sequel Trilogy Missing Scenes [42]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Female Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene, Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Near Death Experiences, Past Character Death, Past Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 06:28:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30084879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Holdo comes as fast as she can when she hears Leia has been hurt.
Series: Sequel Trilogy Missing Scenes [42]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1931056
Kudos: 1
Collections: Allbingo, Bad Day Collection





	Silk and Steel

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Royal Purple
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

She comes as quickly as she can to Leia’s side, dressed in purple, her hair dyed purple. She’s aware, even as she disembarks the ship, that she no doubt looks odd to the others. The others, who look like they’re in a panic even as she boards the _Raddus._  
  
More specifically, what’s left of it.  
  
Larma is quick to catch her up to date. “Amilyn,” she says, “Thank you for coming. We needed someone to step up to the plate as soon as we could. We would have picked Captain Dameron, but we thought...considering his actions recently...”  
  
“Leia told me about Paige.” Holdo says. It still hurts. It hurts too much. Paige Tico would, of course, choose to give her life for the cause and gladly, a woman with love for almost everyone...but was the sacrifice much too high? Was it necessary?  
  
“I don’t entirely blame him,” Larma says. “That Dreadnaught...it was very fortunate that he took it out before it could follow us into hyperspace.”  
  
“There is that.”  
  
Was it really worth it, Amilyn wonders. Was Paige’s life necessary for a balancing of the scales?  
  
What had Canderous Ordo once said? _“People die in war.”_ He had elaborated on that comment in a speech that had made it into the history of the Mandalore culture. _“People die in war. War doesn’t play fair, and I’ve seen Republic soldiers hiding in the homes of civilians and using civilians as shields. Anyone who thinks that war somehow plays fair is a naive idiot beyond imagining.”_  
  
Holdo is not a naive idiot by any means. It doesn’t mean that any of this is fair.  
  
***  
  
“How is Leia?” Amilyn says. Here, in medbay, she is just Amilyn in that moment — a woman grieving for her protégé, and a woman worried about her friend. Leia — there aren’t any words for how much Leia means the galaxy to her. If she knew...  
  
Larma sighs. “She’s unconscious, but stabilizing. She’s very lucky.”  
  
“Blessed by the Force, as she would say,” Holdo says.  
  
Larma laughs, nervously. “Lieutenant Connix, Ensign Finn and Captain Dameron actually said she flew back here. Can you imagine?”  
  
Amilyn smiles despite herself. Of course. Resourceful, strong Leia, who found her way back in the darkness.  
  
"We need someone to step in,” Larma says. “It’s horrible, but I don’t trust Captain Dameron. In addition to his actions...well, we’ve been thinking of having him undergo a psych evaluation.”  
  
“Psych evaluation?”  
  
“Your nephew tortured him.”  
  
Holdo feels like she’s been bitten by a snake with two heads.  
  
Larma continues. “It’s a theory on my part that he might have been acting suicidal when he attacked the Dreadnaught. He...Leia says that Kylo Ren was coerced into doing it, but as horrible as it is, I don’t know if I trust her. She is Force Sensitive, but she is also his mother. I don’t think that she’s...completely objective."  
  
“We’ll give him a psych evaluation to fill out in time,” Holdo says. “Possibly when we get to Crait.” She doesn’t like the idea of stalling when someone’s mental health is on the line, but they have other just as important things to worry about. “In the meantime, Larma...how do you feel about me stepping in? You could do it — ”  
  
“You could and should,” Larma says. “Amilyn...how do you feel about making a statement to the Resistance?”  
  
Holdo nods. “I’ll have to type one up proper.”  
  
“You’ll do beautifully.”  
  
***  
  
The terminal blinks as Holdo opens her word processor. She’s good with words, always has been — even if she’s currently distracted by her best friend lying in a medbay bed having just survived the vacuum of space.  
  
She starts near the end. It will break her block. That is for certain.  
  
_We are the spark that will light the fire that will restore the Republic.._  
  
That’s the key, after all, isn’t it? What Leia would want. A better Republic, without corruption, without fear.  
  
She types. And writing for Leia, for everyone they’ve lost, is all too easy. 


End file.
